


Hard Histories

by wynnebat



Series: Soft Edges [2]
Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Alternate Timelines, Alternate Universe - Modern with Magic, Cuddling & Snuggling, Dreams and Nightmares, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Established Relationship, Fluff, Harry Potter & Tom Riddle Attend Hogwarts Together, Implied/Referenced Child Abuse, Light Angst, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-05-05
Updated: 2020-05-05
Packaged: 2021-03-02 20:28:52
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,603
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24012877
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/wynnebat/pseuds/wynnebat
Summary: Harry and Tom have a post-exam nap, but not before talking about Harry's nightmare.
Relationships: Harry Potter/Tom Riddle
Series: Soft Edges [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1731055
Comments: 16
Kudos: 589





	Hard Histories

**Author's Note:**

> Fictober October 2019. Prompted by quidproquail.

Harry sighed deeply and earnestly. He then sighed again when his initial sigh did not produce the intended effect of Tom taking pity on him. For a few moments, he stared down at his History of Magic exam. The questions swam in front of his eyes. Between the nightmare and making his way to the Slytherin dormitories, Harry had gotten very little sleep the previous night. More than Tom, but he was not an automaton like his boyfriend, and could not function as scarily perfectly as Tom did on little sleep.

Yawning, Harry glanced to his right. Ron did have a few answers scribbled in—

Oh, no, those were just complaints about Binns’ teaching skills. Harry took his gaze higher and saw that he’d been caught attempting to cheat. He shared a shrug and a grin with Ron, then nodded toward the next person in their row.

Ron shook his head with a hangdog expression. On Ron’s other side, Hermione was bent over her paper and scribbling madly, her body angled in a way that prevented Ron from peeking at her answers. It was clear there would be no help from that quarter. Hermione would risk her life for them, but she refused to risk her grades. Even when it came to History, a class with a professor so absent-minded that Harry could unabashedly copy someone else’s answers without penalty.

All other avenues blocked, Harry set his gaze for the student in the row in front of him. Unlike Hermione, Tom had evidently finished writing, and was only sitting and reading his answers.

“Tom,” Harry hissed. “Hey, Tom.” He knew Tom had to have heard him. “T-oh-m. Tomothy Riddle. What’s the answer to question one?”

Unbidden, Harry’s quill rose and began to write in the section provided. _The ring was a Trojan Horse, enchanted by the goblins to kill the wearer, as I will kill you if you do not stop immediately_. Contrary to Tom’s claims, he also added one-word hints for the other questions. They were enough to jog Harry’s memory. Although he hadn’t studied, he had a good auditory memory, and even Binns’ monotone managed to lodge in his head occasionally. Once finished, Harry slid his exam Ron’s way, accepting Ron’s thanks and Hermione’s disgruntled sigh.

“You’re lucky we share this class,” Tom said under his breath.

Harry ducked his head down so that no one would see his stupid grin. “I’ll make it up to you.”

Once the class period was over, Binns allowed them to leave. Yawning once more, Harry wondered what Binns did with their exams. Did he use some sort of ghostly magic to record their grades? Did all the ghosts come by for a Wednesday evening grading night? Or, and this was far less interesting, did he have some human assistant employed to do what he could not?

“Are you coming?” Tom asked.

Harry realized he’d been staring at Binns for far too long. Binns was staring back at him wordlessly.

“Er, goodbye, Professor,” Harry said, waving. He picked up his belongings and rushed out the door. To Tom, he said, “Do you think he noticed us cheating?”

“I doubt it,” Tom replied.

Harry took Tom’s hand. Partly because he wanted to, partly because he wanted to make sure he and Tom both got to where they needed to be. “Do you have any more classes?”

“Not today. I intended to go to the library.” Tom tried to tug his hand out of Harry’s. It was futile. Harry had an excellent grip; it came from catching all those snitches on the field. “Do you have a better plan?”

“It’s the perfect time for a post-exam nap.”

“It’s the _only_ time for a post-exam nap. You can’t have one without an exam.”

Harry nodded. “See? You’re brilliant. And crabby when you’re sleep deprived. Remember when you almost had Pansy in tears after your OWLs? The school wouldn’t survive a repeat. I’m being altruistic here. I’ll even stay with you.”

“It’s because you want a nap and someone to wrap around like an octopus,” Tom said, rolling his eyes, but allowing Harry to tug him toward the Slytherin dormitories. The Gryffindor tower wouldn’t do; it was always loud during the day and there was too much natural light from the windows. The dungeon bedrooms were perfect for daytime naps, all doom and gloom and not a window in sight.

Harry didn’t try to argue with him. “It’s a mutual benefit kind of thing.”

Luckily for him, Tom was willing to say the password to enter the common room, and Harry didn’t have to utter Draco’s stupid family motto. It should be amended to _blond prats being pratty_ immediately. He would write a petition one day. One couldn’t stand for this. Before long, they had arrived in the empty seventh year boys’ dormitory, and Harry dropped his bag and pulled off his robes and shoes before climbing in. From the bed, he watched Tom flip through their history textbook before pointing at a page.

“There it is,” Tom said, smugly. “I knew it was right.”

Harry wondered how it could be that Hermione and Tom weren’t the best of friends, being the only two people he knew who’d ever opened that book.

“Come to bed,” Harry implored him, patting the space next to him.

Tom shut the textbook before doing as Harry asked. “You did say you were going to make it up to me.”

“I’m granting you the honor of my presence,” Harry said.

“When I said the same thing last week, I told me I was being a dick.”

“You were. I’m being generous,” Harry replied, grinning. Abruptly, he yawned. It was the full body type, all the way down to his toes, and when he opened his eyes again Tom’s face was closer than it was before.

“Since you’re being generous…” Tom’s expression was intent. Harry loved it when he looked at him like that; like there was no one else in the world, no textbooks or minister’s office internships, no one but them. “Tell me what your nightmare was about.”

Harry huffed and turned to look at the top of the four poster bed. The downside of Tom looking at him like that: Tom didn’t need magic to read Harry’s mind. All he needed was his own perceptive mind. “I didn’t tell you I had a nightmare.”

“It wasn’t hard to guess. It wasn’t the right night for a party and staying up too late with Ron doesn’t leave you looking like that.”

Harry glanced at him. “Like what?”

“Like you’re lost. Like you need me.”

Under the covers, Harry found Tom’s hand. “A lost sheep?”

“A lost lion, maybe,” Tom replied. His hand was warm, and the pressure of his skin against Harry’s calmed his beating heart.

Harry looked up again, not wanting to look into Tom’s eyes when he told his story. Speaking seemed to take an inordinate amount of strength, but once he began to speak, it was surprisingly easy to continue. “When I was little—before Hogwarts—the Dursleys went on vacation. They were supposed to leave me with a neighbor, but both Uncle Vernon and Aunt Petunia had thought the other had already dropped me off. I think Dudley knew because he was probably the one who locked my cupboard door, but either he didn’t care or he was distracted by the vacation. It wasn’t anything big. Just the beach. Uncle Vernon doesn’t like leaving the country.”

“They left you alone?” Tom said, a dark note in his voice.

Harry didn’t turn to look at him. “It was nice at first. Quiet. I played with my toys and read.” With so little light, the green of the four poster bed hangings looked black. Harry hoped Tom didn’t favor the same color scheme for when they moved in together after Hogwarts. “I beat myself against the cupboard door until I couldn’t anymore. I don’t know how long it was. It was magic that got me out in the end. I ate all the cookies in the fridge in one go. Chocolate chip.”

Tom pulled him closer and Harry cuddled against him, resting his head on top of Tom instead of the pillow. “What happened next?”

“They came back. Uncle Vernon yelled at me, but Aunt Petunia just said that she didn’t have time to deal with this, and that school was starting the next day. Dudley had an awful sunburn. He looked like a big red lollipop.”

“We should take revenge on them this summer, just you and me,” Tom said, stroking Harry’s hair. “We’ll have graduated. We’ll have our wands. You’ll be able to do anything you want to them.”

Harry met Tom’s gaze. His boyfriend looked all pissed off on Harry’s behalf. It was gratifying, even if Harry quelled Tom’s revenge fantasies by saying, “I don’t want to do anything to them. I just never want to see them again.”

“We can do that, too,” Tom said. It was too easy of an agreement, Harry knew, but for the moment he didn’t care. “Go to sleep, Harry. I have you.”

Smiling, Harry curled in closer, happy to have broken through Tom’s reluctance to cuddle with him. After a while, Harry opened his eyes to find Tom still awake and looking at him. “You too. Sleep.”

“I will,” Tom replied.

Harry couldn’t keep his eyes open for long. It was too comfortable, too safe, too warm, and before long he was asleep. His last thought was to keep the peace between Tom and Hermione when their exam scores came out.

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks for reading! I'm also on [tumblr](https://wynnefic.tumblr.com/).


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